October 5th-8th (Sat-Tues) - Reunited In the Land of the Mackerel

(I’ll keep this short.)

Saturday: After a long 4 days apart, Mia, Mom, and Rich came my way and ended up in Sabae. 

After some settling in, we went to Tonkatsu. I got a spinach dish,

that came with sesame seeds to be ground. I really like the grinding bowl.

Sunday: Following a leisurely early morning, we walked around Nishiyama Koen and the small zoo.

After lunch, they experienced the wild and untamed Echizen coast.

Evening was card games. I don’t know if this sounds exciting, but we learned Bridge, mostly :) (I suppose), and sitting around playing games with them was my favorite time. That and dinner, where they got to meet my Sabae friends, and both parties were able to confirm the existence of the others. In fact Kaori and Rich conversed in Spanish, and Mom and Mako did their best with some mixed English and Japanese. I was impressed with my mom’s Japanese. She not only learned good phrases for the trip, she wasn’t afraid to use them! I think I heard her speak more Japanese than the other two (though Mia understands everything). 

Monday: The Universe has quite plainly told me what I get when I try to take shortcuts. It’s not that shortcuts are bad implicitly, it’s me taking them that usually comes out wrong. Thus, stuck in a tunnel for an hour.

But we made it to Eiheiji eventually. This was my third time and I still didn’t get many pictures. However, we located Miwa-san at the beginning, and he gave us a tour. His English is ok, mostly he’s shy about using it, however once Mia and I looked up the first word in Japanese, it worked out really well. He would tell us, see if we understood, if not he’d try something else, and if that didn’t work we’d look up the key word we were missing. Thus the abundance of interesting new words :)

I was able to confirm that the trainees (who train for as less as 1 year or as much as 10 years), when they graduate, go back to their own temples and become the head monks there (as I thought). Also, they are vegetarian, but I’m not sure if they must remain vegetarian after they leave....

Mr. Miwa took us to a few places those wandering about don’t get to see, such as the room where the monks-in-training study, the room where visitors meet the head of the temple, and the room where important visitors rest:

I like the bright gold coloring. It’s quite different, and as Mom thought a little ostentatious, but hey, they are important people. Look at this door!

After the temple, Miwa-san showed us the museum. I hadn’t even known it was there! It probably would have been really interesting if we could read the signs. As it was, it was rather cool, and we were lucky enough to be there when this artifact was on display:

Normally it’s a replica, but this is the real thing. It was hand-written by the founder of the temple (in the 1200s), and is written entirely in kanji (Chinese characters). 

Also real was the box the founder carried on his travels around China. The thing looked like it weighed a ton — without anything in it. How did he even fit it on his back? Wow.

Following this peaceful adventure at a Buddhist temple, we went to all-you-can-eat meat (and more). I liked these pieces of pork:

They were the best meat, and they look like fish.

Then we went to karaoke!! And I totally forgot to take pictures! Again! But at least I could sing this time :) (Rich wasn't so lucky.)

Tuesday: I took my visitors to Yoshikawa, so they were able to see a real Japanese elementary school, and a real class! Yay. 

A quick lunch at revolving sushi gave us the strength to part, and I waived their train away sending well-wishes for the rest of their journey.

Recent Japanese:

kokuhou (国宝) = national treasure

fusuma = Japanese sliding screen (sliding doors, often painted)

juzu = rosary, prayer beads

kanbun (漢文) = literature written entirely in kanji

sumi = ink (the black stuff from ink sticks)

unsui = monk-in-training